title: Health insurance tax credits, the earned income tax credit, and health insurance coverage of single mothers.
abstract: The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 enacted a refundable tax credit for low-income working families who purchased health insurance coverage for their children. This health insurance tax credit (HITC) existed during tax years 1991, 1992, and 1993, and was then rescinded. A difference-in-differences estimator applied to Current Population Survey data suggests that adoption of the HITC, along with accompanying increases in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), was associated with a relative increase of about 4.7 percentage points in the private health insurance coverage of working single mothers with high school or less education. Also, a difference-in-difference-in-differences estimator, which attempts to net out the possible influence of the EITC increases but which requires strong assumptions, suggests that the HITC was responsible for about three-quarters (3.6 percentage points) of the total increase. The latter estimate implies a price elasticity of health insurance take-up of -0.42.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Merve
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cebi
authors.forename: Stephen A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Woodbury
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004608:Eligibility Determination; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007183:Income Tax; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008484:Medicaid / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018803:Models, Economic; D009035:Mothers; D020954:Single-Parent Family / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013660:Taxes / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States
keywords: H2; H51; I18; J32; health insurance; low-wage workers; tax credits and subsidies